Read complete books and articles on: Thomas Eakins

Eakins, Thomas - āˈkĭnz, 1844–1916, American painter, photographer, and sculptor, b. Philadelphia, where he worked most of his life. Eakins is considered the foremost American portrait painter and one of the greatest artists of the 19th cent.

Early Career

Eakins studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and anatomy at Jefferson Medical College. In Paris

Early Career

Eakins studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and anatomy at Jefferson Medical College. In Paris from 1866 until 1870, he studied with Gérôme and Bonnat and with the sculptor A. A. Dumont. He visited Spain, where he was drawn to the works of Velázquez. From 1870 he taught at the Pennsylvania Academy, where he was harshly criticized for his teaching innovations: he insisted on working from live, nude models, on learning anatomy from dissection, on learning motion by watching athletes perform, and on working in oils. His refusal to abandon the use of nude models forced his resignation in 1886.

Approach and Influence

Eakins sought, above all, to describe honestly the reality of what he saw. He sought to "peer deeper into the heart of American life." He felt that no formula of ideal beauty could compare with what is real, so he refused the temptation to see what, according to fashion, he ought to. His portraits were not flattering; they were penetrating, and they often disappointed his sitters. His painstaking study of anatomy and geometric perspective served his ambition to grasp and define in paint exterior reality, while his remarkable honesty of approach provided him a view of the interior realities of human character. His perception and mode of illumination of the human face are frequently likened to those of Rembrandt.

In a period when many artists were concerned with the exotic or deliberately picturesque, Eakins succeeded in recording the everyday world about him with insight and profound humanity. Eakins revived the art of portraiture in the United States and, through his influence as a teacher, founded a native school of American art, visible in the works of his pupils Henri, Sloan, Glackens, and Sterne, and more recently in the work of new generations of realist painters.

Photography and Sculpture

From the 1880s on Eakins used photography in many ways. He employed it as an art in its own right, which he used to make powerful studies of family and friends, animals and rural scenes. He used it as an aid to accuracy in painting for himself and his classes, either as an inspiration for a related work or by copying directly (until about 1886 he sometimes secretly traced images onto canvas from projected photographs, a technique that was not confirmed until the early 21st cent.). He also made use of photography to study motion, devising for Eadweard Muybridge a camera which, by means of a revolving disk over the lens, could make several exposures on a single plate, and thereby aid in understanding movement in human beings and in animals, everyday as well as athletic. He also adapted Muybridge's animal studies for use in a zoetrope, a precursor of the motion picture projector. Eakins's few works in sculpture include the horses on the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Notable Works

Only toward the very end of his life was Eakins recognized as a major painter. Among his most notable works are The Surgical Clinic of Professor Gross (1875; Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia), the realism of which caused a scandal when it was finished; The Clinic of Professor Agnew (1889; Univ. of Pennsylvania); The Concert Singer (1892; Pennsylvania Acad.); The Chess Players (1876) and The Thinker (1900; both: Metropolitan Mus.); and the portraits of Mrs. Frishmuth (1900; Philadelphia Mus.) and Miss Van Buren (1891; Phillips Coll., Washington, D.C.). His pictures of athletes, such as The Swimming Hole (1883; Fort Worth Mus., Tex.), Salutat (1898; Addison Gall., Andover, Mass.), and Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871; Metropolitan Mus.), are especially fine.

Bibliography

See illustrated catalogs of his watercolors by D. F. Hoopes (1971) and his photographs by G. Hendricks (1972); studies by F. Porter (1959), S. Schindler (1967), L. Goodrich (1933 and 1970), and G. Hendricks (1974); study of his photographs by S. Danly and C. Leibold (1994).

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13 of the Best Books and Articles on: Thomas Eakins

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Thomas Eakins » Read Now
by Fairfield Porter. 130 pgs.

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...THOMAS EAKINS The Great American Artists Series...ALBERT P. RYDER by Lloyd Goodrich THOMAS EAKINS by Fairfield Porter WINSLOW...ARSHILE GORKY by Harold Rosenberg Thomas...
2.

Thomas Eakins: His Life and Work (1933) » Read Now
by Lloyd Goodrich. 376 pgs.

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...THOMAS EAKINS HIS LIFE AND WORK SELF-PORTRAIT...NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN, NEW YORK THOMAS EAKINS HIS LIFE AND WORK BY LLOYD...IN presenting this first book on Thomas...
3.

The Immortal Eight: American Painting from Eakins to the Armory Show (1870-1913) (Discussion of Thomas Eakins begins on p. 28) » Read Now
by Bennard B. Perlman. 215 pgs.

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4.

American Painting of the Nineteenth Century: Realism, Idealism, and the American Experience (Chap. 11 "Thomas Eakins: Science and Sight") » Read Now
by Barbara Novak. 352 pgs.

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The works of 12 American artists, including Homer, Eakins, Church, and Ryder, are introduced.
5.

American Painting: History and Interpretation ("The Renewal of Nature: Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins: 1844- 1916" begins on p. 651) » Read Now
by Virgil Barker. 718 pgs.

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...SCHMITT IN A SINGLE SCULL by THOMAS EAKINS 321/4 O 461/4: 1871, signed...99. THE PATHETIC SONG by THOMAS EAKINS 45 O 313/4: 1881, signed and...100. THE AGNEW CLINIC by...
6.

Eakins and Icons, in The Art Bulletin » Read Now
by Michael Leja. 19 pgs.

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7.

Projecting an Image: The Contested Cultural Identity of Thomas Eakins, in The Art Bulletin » Read Now
by David Lubin. 13 pgs.

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8.

The Realism of Thomas Eakins, in New Criterion » Read Now
by Michael J. Lewis. 6 pgs.

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9.

American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman ("The Realism of Millet and of Eakins" begins on p. 602) » Read Now
by F. O. Matthiessen. 680 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...of American Art, for letters by Thomas Eakins; Random House and Professor Emory...The Realism of Millet and of Eakins 602 And what shall...painters, and by the great...
10.

Critical Issues in American Art: A Book of Readings (Chap. 11 "Thomas Eakins and 'Pure Art' Education") » Read Now
by Mary Ann Calo. 328 pgs.

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"For anyone who has labored long in compiling a photocopy reader for their introductory courses in American art, this anthology offers a balanced & inexpensive alternative. Mixing thematic with artist- & object-based reading, Critical Issues in American Art represents a variety of new approaches to...
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"For anyone who has labored long in compiling a photocopy reader for their introductory courses in American art, this anthology offers a balanced & inexpensive alternative. Mixing thematic with artist- & object-based reading, Critical Issues in American Art represents a variety of new approaches to American art which will challenge students without bewildering them." Angela Miller Washington University "A stimulating & useful resource for teachers & students that will broaden our understanding of American art." Matthew Baigell Rutgers University
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11.

A Loan Exhibition of the Works of Thomas Eakins, 1844-1944 » Read Now
by M. Knoedler and Company. 74 pgs.

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...LOAN EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF THOMAS EAKINS 1844-1944 COMMEMORATING...definitive book on the artist, Thomas Eakins, His Life and Work , who has...pupil and intimate...
12.

The Revival of Pragmatism: New Essays on Social Thought, Law, and Culture » Read Now
by Morris Dickstein. 454 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

Although long considered the most distinctive American contribution to philosophy, pragmatism-with its problem-solving emphasis and its contingent view of truth-lost popularity in mid-century after the advent of World War II, the horror of the Holocaust, and the dawning of the Cold War. Since the...
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Although long considered the most distinctive American contribution to philosophy, pragmatism-with its problem-solving emphasis and its contingent view of truth-lost popularity in mid-century after the advent of World War II, the horror of the Holocaust, and the dawning of the Cold War. Since the 1960s, however, pragmatism in many guises has again gained prominence, finding congenial places to flourish within growing intellectual movements. This volume of new essays brings together leading philosophers, historians, legal scholars, social thinkers, and literary critics to examine the far-reaching effects of this revival.As the twenty-five intellectuals who take part in this discussion show, pragmatism has become a complex terrain on which a rich variety of contemporary debates have been played out. Contributors such as Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, Nancy Fraser, Robert Westbrook, Hilary Putnam, and Morris Dickstein trace pragmatism's cultural and intellectual evolution, consider its connection to democracy, and discuss its complex relationship to the work of Emerson, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. They show the influence of pragmatism on black intellectuals such as W. E. B. Du Bois, explore its view of poetic language, and debate its effects on social science, history, and jurisprudence. Also including essays by critics of the revival such as Alan Wolfe and John Patrick Diggins, the volume concludes with a response to the whole collection from Stanley Fish.Including an extensive bibliography, this interdisciplinary work provides an in-depth and broadly gauged introduction to pragmatism, one that will be crucial for understanding the shape of the transformations taking place in the American social and philosophical scene at the end of the twentieth century.Contributors: Richard Bernstein, David Bromwich, Ray Carney, Stanley Cavell, Morris Dickstein, John Patrick Diggins, Stanley Fish, Nancy Fraser, Thomas C. Grey, Giles Gunn, Hans Joas, James T. Kloppenberg, David Luban, Louis Menand, Sidney Morgenbesser, Richard Poirier, Richard A. Posner, Ross Posnock, Hilary Putnam, Ruth Anna Putnam, Richard Rorty, Michel Rosenfeld, Richard H. Weisberg, Robert B. Westbrook, Alan Wolfe
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13.

A Concise History of American Painting and Sculpture (Chap. 4 "At Home and Abroad") » Read Now
by Matthew Baigell. 435 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This clear, thorough, and reliable survey of American painting and sculpture from colonial times to the present day covers the major artists and their works, outlines the social and cultural backgrounds of each period, and includes 409 illustrations integrated with the text. The book begins with a...
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This clear, thorough, and reliable survey of American painting and sculpture from colonial times to the present day covers the major artists and their works, outlines the social and cultural backgrounds of each period, and includes 409 illustrations integrated with the text. The book begins with a discussion of seventeenth-century art along the eastern seaboard and ends with sections on current realistic process and technological art. The eight chapters are arranged chronologically and each generally follows the same organizational sequence. From time to time the author suggests continuities of themes, ideas, and images; and contrasts or comparisons are made between artists of the same or different centuries to show continuities or discontinuities. Some determining factors in American art are considered, but Baigell views the rich and diverse achievements of American art as the result of the efforts and talents of pluralistic society rather than as fitting into a particular mold. This edition includes corrections and revisions to the text, an updated bibliography, and thirteen new illustrations.
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